Save My Last Dance
by N.C. Stormeye
Summary: A prom, a girl, a boy, a promise, and a dance. The eternity of a moment. NxM


**Save My Last Dance**

**A Gakuen Alice Fic By MB…sama.**

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Gakuen Alice…probably never will.

**Authoress' notes: **DOMO ARIGATOU to **_Hiyono-chin_**! Thanks for leading the horses to water and making them drink. Also, I know my last fic was weirdly done, so this is a one-shot to satisfy my odd collection of reviewers that loved my crazy writing style.

I do though, have to answer some weird things. First of all, **IOU** must be the _most_ perceptive reviewer I have ever met. **IOU-**san, you are correct. The trance alice is _loosely_ based on _Jagan no Otoko, Midou Ban _(as you can see, MB). Ban was my Get Backer alter ego (ehehehe), and GB my first anime muse, so it was my…er…"thanks" to that fandom.

As well, to another reviewer (Elle, an _anonymous_ reviewer :D) asked me what "Kun" and "sama" meant. "Kun" is an honorific and male equivalent of "chan" and "sama" is equivalent to "lord" or "master".

To my 13 reviewers, you are my 13 ghosts, my 13 Gakuen Alice angels. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! This one's for you!

_

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It was a cold and bitter day, as cold and bitter as a glass of green tea shot with vinegar and dumped in an icebox. Alice Academy being not your ordinary school, the senior prom was on the coldest day of the year. Bedecked in furs and warm wraps, the senior students stood on the snow-covered grounds and shivered bitterly. _

_Among these students was the young Mikan Sakura, the ex-no star and nullifying alice-wielder. And the girlfriend of the _absent_ Natsume Hyuuga. Absent? Oh dear…_

"He said he'd be here…" Mikan shivered to herself, watching the dancing couples warming up the dance floor. Any other person who had seen the scene Mikan was looking at would have mistaken this gathering as some sort of occult gathering, what with the fevered pitch of the dancing and the craziest alices coming to view, but to Mikan, it was just another Alice Academy dance.

A dance that seemed oh-so-cold without a certain someone. Mikan looked to the wintry sky, as if suddenly, out of the blue, Mr. Hyuuga himself should drop from it. No such luck for the normally-cheery teenager. Today could possibly be the last day they spent together, and he wasn't here.

_Natsume…you'd never fail me, would you?_ Mikan thought to herself. Doubts set in, as they always did. Natsume was as unpredictable as his alice, prone to his impulses, to his whims. Could it be that Natsume decided to fail his lady love on a whim? It could happen.

She bowed her head, and shook it. It wouldn't be the first time.

_For instance…our supposed-to-be first date_. Mikan had sat in that coffeeshop for hours, and Natsume never came. Though in the end she had discovered he had been off on an Alice Academy mission, she had still felt bad.

_Then there was the Alice Exam Celebration. _Mikan had passed her exams and they were going to share her celebratory chocolate box. He was supposed to turn up under the tree, but no Natsume ever materialized. Mikan didn't ask for a reason.

She just started to doubt him, even then. But her nature was a kind, gentle one, and on the outside she made nothing of it. The two had their share of rendezvous' and tete a tete's spent under the _sakura_ trees and quiet, sultry nights spent asleep (yes, only asleep) in each other's arms. Natsume sometimes insisted on it, because secretly, he felt she kept him warm.

And so, for all the failed dates, Mikan forgave Natsume. Now, alone at her prom, she began to regret that decision. Dressed to the nines in a beautiful, simply white dress and white jacket, Mikan began to ponder. A rare feat for a stupid girl.

_Maybe…maybe all those days were signs…_Hopelessness began to depress Mikan, and the corners of her mouth, often pointing skyward, were weighed down by her sadness. But she refused to give in to her doubts, trying to shut them out of her mind. _No, no, NO! He'd never…he would _never. _He'd never do this. He promised!_

_Promised…promised me the last dance. He'd be here…_

Maybe it was her eternal optimism, or a testament to her love, but she didn't leave. Most girls in her position would have left without a word, shamed, scorned. Mikan kept her faith in Natsume, though the outlook was bleak.

She would be rewarded.

---000---000---000---000---

_Night was beginning to fall, and the couples beginning to disperse, to have their own rendezvous in Central Town, in a closet inside the school, in a bedroom draped in shadows._

Under cover of darkness, bruised and scarred, but nattily dressed, Natsume Hyuuga made his appearance. _Oh crap…I'm late…she's gone._ Natsume thought to himself. He viewed the silent scene. Gentle music, the remnants of a finished party, tinkled from a radio, unseen. The lanterns flickered with their dying strength. Tables were empty and desolate. Cloth banners flickered like ghosts in the winter breeze. With the last of his strength, Natsume set fire to one of those banners. He was about to turn away when…

"Natsume…" a familiar voice whispered from the far corner of the clearing. Natsume's head turned. On a bench, shivering, a cold beginning to develop, was Mikan.

"Hey Polka-dots." Natsume smirked, walking, no, stumbling towards Mikan. Mikan rubbed her sleepy eyes. Could she be dreaming? Was she dead? Was she hallucinating from the cold?

All her fears were assuaged when Natsume took her in his arms, scarred and scratched from the missions the Academy mercilessly assigned him. But scarred, scratched, and beaten, he was still perfect to Mikan. His warmth, from the Alice he once loathed, warmed Mikan to the soul. She practically melted into his arms.

"Pervert." She joked weakly, then sneezed. Natsume gave her a rare smile, a smile that he gave her and her alone.

"You stayed…" Natsume queried the blissfully content girl in his wounded arms.

"You came…I knew you would." Mikan said, her voice drugged with happiness.

"Today," Natsume said hesitantly, "today…could be the last day we spend together…Mikan."

"It won't…it won't be. "

"Save my last dance…" Natsume smiled a rare smile as he whispered in Mikan's ear, and Mikan nodded. In the shadows of the Alice Academy night, the two danced to their own rhythm. One strong, the other weak, one hot but icy, the other freezing but warm. One sad and tragic, another happy and coddled. The unlikely couple of Alice Academy danced the night away, to their own rhythm, as they had always done.

And it couldn't be more perfect.

**

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End Notes: I'm writing this pretty damn late at night, and under demand, and with a very weak muse that's barely alive. Like a ghost of a premature baby. Nevertheless, it's sweet and fluffy and I like it. **

I hope this lives up, at least a bit, to your expectations. You are welcome to call it 1,1090 words of total nonsense though, if you wish. I'm SORRY! I'll do better next time when I'm not too sick and sleepy!

Someone give me some story ideas! I'm OPEN!

_With Love,_

_MB_


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